Spain-EU in tension: Polarization, uncertainty and strategic dilemmas
Bound destinies. The Spanish State and the European imperialist bloc are going through a scenario marked by simultaneous tensions: internal political crisis, economic fragility, regulatory disputes and a growing struggle for the so-called “strategic autonomy”, in a world marked by growing disorder as a result of the inter-imperialist dispute and political and social polarization.
Dispute between parties of the regime. In Spain, the political climate continues to be dominated by confrontation at the heights. The declassification of documents from 23-F has revived the clash between the government and the opposition, while episodes such as the internal crisis of Vox in the Madrid City Council reflect the instability in the right-wing bloc. This picture confirms a persistent polarization: The advance of the PP and the far-right of Vox in the regional elections held so far coexists with the erosion of the PSOE and the setback of Podemos, summer, IU and other reformist forces. The deterioration of the institutionality of the monarchical-parliamentary regime of '78 shaped by Francoism continues its course, while the government of Pedro Sánchez increasingly exposes its structural limits and that it is not progressive.
Serious structural problems in public services. The repeated railway incidents and the deterioration of the Rodalies system in Catalonia show chronic investment and management deficits that directly impact daily life, even with fatal consequences for users and workers. The transportation crisis is not an isolated event, but the expression of an infrastructure model in which “modernization” coexists with serious security and planning failures.. They are the result of decades of privatization, disinvestment and a system in which not even health, Neither education nor public transportation are under the control of their workers and users, but subordinated to business interests and inefficient state officials.
The crisis that began in 2008 It has not completed. Signs of “recovery” are based on fragile foundations. Financial markets show some optimism, but they coexist with strong global uncertainties. In Spain, the partial improvement in tariffs towards EE. THE. does not eliminate the structural vulnerability of an economy where rents increase, transportation and food, while salaries lose purchasing power and the working conditions of the working class do not improve.
Autonomy and European rearmament. The superstructural debate on the strategic autonomy of the EU gains centrality. Warnings about technological dependence on EE. THE. They question the possibility of real sovereignty, while serving as justification for the rearmament of European imperialisms. Billions of euros are allocated to military spending to the detriment of social items, deepening a model that prioritizes the defense of capitalist interests over popular needs.
EU and Trump: tensions, agreements and contradictions. The relationship between the EU and Trump constitutes a factor of instability. The possibility of a new protectionist offensive reactivates the fear of trade wars, with threats of tariffs on key sectors such as automotive or steel. This situation forces the EU to prepare for scenarios of economic confrontation, while trying to sustain negotiation channels and avoid an abrupt breakup of transatlantic trade.
A relationship with contradictions. As Europe seeks to assert its strategic autonomy, continues to depend on EE. THE. in defense, technology and security. This duality translates into an ambivalent policy, where the EU oscillates between pragmatic cooperation and the need to differentiate itself from unilateral decisions by Washington, especially in climate matters, industrial and geopolitics. This has expressions regarding the policy towards the invasion of Russian imperialism into Ukraine and some partial criticism of the genocide of the State of Israel against the people of Palestine.; but without breaking with North American imperialism.
The EU supports the imperialist-Zionist aggressors in the Middle East. US imperialism and Zionism bomb Iran, Lebanon and other neighboring countries, which we reject by calling for global mobilization, without supporting the reactionary and repressive fundamentalist regime. Meanwhile, Western imperialist states and NATO – unsurprisingly – firmly support the US. THE. and Israel. The actions of the European Union are not limited to diplomatic and political support, but includes direct or indirect help. The British Army has provided logistical support for the airstrikes. France wants to intervene to “protect” the Gulf States, Germany and Italy host key US air bases. THE. NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte, guarantees the full support of all European Member States.
Reconfiguration of foreign policy. European foreign policy is going through a phase of forced readjustment. The rapprochement of the EU with India and that of Germany with China, in search of “balanced” relationships, reflects the EU's attempt to position itself in the midst of the dispute between the main imperialist powers for global hegemony. Added to this is the perspective promoted by Trump of redefining the world order, questioning organizations such as the UN and NATO and agreements established since the postwar, which deepens the EU project crisis.
Debates on the production model. The European production model is also under discussion. The growth of the electric car in a declining automobile market expresses an uneven energy transition, conditioned by high costs and global competition, especially from China. Europe makes partial progress in decarbonization, but it does so in a framework of uncertainty that calls into question its industrial competitiveness. There will never be a way out under the chaotic capitalist production, structured at the service of the profit of a handful of privileged people and not of the democratic planning of the entire economy.
Climate crisis and political dispute. The climate issue takes center stage, not only as an environmental problem but as a terrain of political confrontation. Climate change is no longer just a scientific emergency but has become an axis of ideological dispute with profound social and economic implications.. In the meantime, capitalism continues to deepen the environmental crisis and responds to its consequences with laziness and improvisation, as evidenced in the DANA in Valencia, where more than two hundred people died. There is no way to save the planet from destruction without starting from ecosocialist criteria..
MOBILIZATION BREATHING. Sectors such as railways, healthcare personnel, teachers and other workers carry out various struggles, but these remain fragmented due to the action of the union leaderships. It is necessary to demand from the large union centers, in the case of the Spanish State of CCOO and UGT that break their passivity, call assemblies, promote the unity of the struggles and move towards mobilizations and a general strike that imposes a program of demands at the service of the working class and the popular sectors.
For a new political alternative. In this context, the need to build a new political alternative arises. Faced with the wear and tear of the PSOE and the offensive of the PP-Vox bloc, Gabriel Rufián (ERC) proposes a “broad front” that coordinates candidates to maximize parliamentary representation. Nevertheless, This proposal omits that the advance of the right is explained, among other factors, by the policies of the PSOE itself, supported by forces like ERC, that have contributed to maintaining the governability of the regime and negotiating setbacks such as the abandonment of Catalan self-determination.
For a front of the radical left. Rufián's initiative does not propose a program to break with capitalism, nor support the struggles of the workers today, the working class is absent in its proposals. The only thing it seeks is an electoral reordering of reformism, aimed at obtaining seats, without questioning the limits of the system. In this sense, reproduces the same logic that has facilitated the growth of the right and the extreme right. Stopping these sectors requires defeating them in the streets and closing their institutional path through self-organization, mobilization and active support for social struggles, such as those promoted by the women's movement in the face of 8 of March. And stand up a radical left front, with an anti-capitalist program, revolutionary and socialist.
For a Europe of workers. The European Union not only expresses a project crisis, but its imperialist character at the service of the great interests of capital, including the advance of militarism to the detriment of social rights. Against this, the need to fight for a workers' Europe arises, where the majorities are the ones who democratically define the course, in the perspective of a revolutionary transformation of society and the construction of socialism, like the one promoted by the International Socialist League (LIS) with the international regrouping of the revolutionaries.
